All eyes are on the Green party this week as the three parties hoping to form a government consult internally on whether or not to go for it. The smart money says Fine Gael and Fianna Fail will ratify the proposed programme for government, but Green party leader Eamon Ryan has a much more difficult task.Dr Theresa Reidy, political scientist at UCC was this week’s guest on the podcast to discuss that, the wider political climate and where exactly politics is going today.

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Summertime but the living ain’t easy this year if you’re in the tourism business. Those in some of the most beautiful parts of the country, particularly down the western seaboard, are facing into a season that is hugely curtailed. That in turn deprives thousands of the means to get through the long winter.John Fitzgerald, who is based on the Ring of Kerry and operates with his wife a seaweed tours business, talks to the podcast about how they and most of their community are hoping to salvage what they can from the curtailed season, some of which will be as a result of an expected boom in the staycation market.

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In a week in which protests spread throughout the USA after the violent death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis, the podcast’s guest is an Irish exile in Seattle, Gillian O’Connell.Gillian talks about how the events of the past week have awakened her to the reality of institutional racism in the country she had made her home for the last twenty five years. She believes that the recent events could well prompt real change this time and force the USA to confront its oldest problem. Interestingly, she sees that one leader in this respect could be corporate America.

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One of Ireland’s leading chefs Ross Lewis is the guest on this week’s podcast to discuss how the pandemic has affected the restaurant business and the hopes and fears in the sector about opening up again.He talks about how social distancing rules will impact on restaurants, the prospects for those working in the sector and the changes that can be expected in living and working habits and how that will effect eating out.He also gives an insight into the personal experience of turning the lights out on his business last March at the outset of the lockdown.

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Maurice McCabe is this country's best known whistleblower following his reports of malpractice in An Garda Siochana where he was a sergeant with an exemplary record.Now, two years after his retirement, following a series of inquiries and a tribunal examining his claims and the reprisal he suffered, he has agreed to act as patron for the anti corruption body, Transparency International.He spoke to the podcast about how he’s getting on with life, how Transparency International helped him and what he does when whistleblowers from various walks of life show up at his front door.

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The spread of the corona virus has led to major problems in particular settings, one of which is direct provision centres. One centre that has experienced an outbreak is the recently opened Skellig Hotel in Cahirciveen. Nearly one hundred asylum seekers were transferred there from the Dublin area with 24 hours notice in March and now over a quarter of the residents are infected.The asylum seekers, local people and politicians have all called for it to be closed down. But why and in what circumstances was it opened, and what does it say about the direct provision system? Mick spoke to a local businessman Jack Fitzpatrick and Aswer, one of the residents of the centre.

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While the western world has faced major upheaval in dealing with the pandemic, the developing world has a whole set of different, and largely more dangerous problems.John Wain, who hails from Cork, is currently based in the UN in Geneva but spends a lot of his time in the developing world, building shelters for refugees fleeing war, violence and famine. He joined Mick on the podcast to talk about the challenges faced in these regions and why in particular the lockdown solution may not be a good idea for the poorest countries in the world.

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Today’s guest on the podcast Eddie Hobbs has some strong opinions on how the country is going to come out of the current crisis, the role that the banks must play and the repeated failure in official circles to recognise the importance of small business. He talks about how we are facing into a New World Order in which “radical centralism” will be in vogue and political power will revert to the people in a manner not seen in decades. He also talks about the collapse of Brendan Investments, the vehicle of which he was the public face and how that and perceptions around it had a devastating impact on his reputation.

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The public health emergency and lock down has for many people provided space to reflect on how we are living as a society. Are our priorities as they should be? How do we measure success? Is there a better, more sustainable way of living?Ten years ago university lecturer Anne Ryan attempted to answer some of these questions in a groundbreaking and prescient book, Enough Is Plenty. Anne is also a co-ordinator in the organisation, Basic Income Ireland, which advocates for a system of Universal Basic Income. On the podcast she explains her philosophy and where it has been put into practice with some encouraging results.

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Adam Harris was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum at the age of five but by the time he was nineteen he had established the organisation ASIAM that today is the leading advocacy group for people with autism and their families. During the current health emergency people with autism have their own unique struggles and Adam spoke to the podcast about the challenges that are arising at this time. He also explained how he was given the opportunity to reach his full potential and how society today has made some advances in observing the human rights of people with autism yet there remains a lot more to be done.

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